St. Anthony: The Wonder-Worker of Padua

by Charles Warren Stoddard

Charles Warren Stoddard St. Anthony of Padua - lector, orator, contemplative, wonder-worker - is considered to be the most popular Saint in the Catholic Church. He was of French descent, from Portugal, but worked in Italy as a Franciscan priest. Renowned for his incredible miracles - including preaching to the fish when people would not listen to him - he is most famous as "The Patron Saint of Lost Objects," but he bears many other great titles, e.g., Doctor of the Church, Hammer of Heretics, Storehouse of Sacred Scripture, Father of Mystic Theology, Ark of Both Testaments, Champion of the Sacred Heart, Apostle of Mary's Assumption, Protector of Seafarers and Patron of a Bountiful Harvest. St. Bonaventure said of him that "He possessed the science of the Angels, the faith of the Patriarchs, the foreknowledge of the Prophets, the zeal of the Apostles, the purity of virgins, the austerities of confessors, and the heroism of martyrs." In all, one will search hard in the annals of the Saints to find a more fascinating and inspiring life than that of St. Anthony of Padua.

Genres: Catholic, Religion, Biography, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Christianity, Audiobook

128 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1896

About the author

Charles Warren Stoddard was an American author and editor.

Reviews

[Fiza Pathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is very difficult to procure books on the biography or life story of St. Anthony which is something really startling, considering what a popular Catholic Saint he is. I came across this book in the year 2018 & only managed to get to read it this week. I actually wanted to read this book in 2007 when I was 18 years old, but at that time the book was not available at my local Catholic bookstore. Considering the universal devotion to this Doctor of the Church, Saint Anthony has very few biographies out of which Charles Warren Stoddard's edition is very interesting to read & very informative. From the early vocation of Saint Anthony to his miracles like giving a sermon to the fish, the chapters or stories contained in this book are very accurate & well arranged. The book is a quick read & one tends to admire the sanctity of Saint Anthony especially considering his contribution to mystical theology. There is a mention of the Bible Pslam commentaries of Saint Anthony in this book by Stoddard which I will try to search to procure & read. It would be very interesting to read the Bible commentaries of this very humble but highly gifted Saint. He seemed to have learnt the Bible by heart, which is a motivating factor for any reader who wishes to study their Bible closely. Saint Anthony, as this book states, was also devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus & the Assumption of Mother Mary which was very revealing to read. The book is short, written with great devotion & dedication. I'm sure the author would have had to go through a lot of trouble to get the information required for this book & so I respect his perseverance. I just wanted the book to be longer & more detailed. I will continue my search for more English written biographies of the life of Saint Anthony of Padua. As I said, it is very difficult to get books based on his life, so if you are able to get this copy, I highly recommend that you buy it pronto before it goes off the shelf. I highly recommend the book to all devotees of Saint Anthony who wish to know a little more about his extraordinary life. 'St. Anthony: The Wonder Worker of Padua' gets 5 stars from me.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not too shabby. Although sometimes i do find that the author wonders off into things.... other than this fault, this is a good starter introducing Saint Anthony. Saint Anthony - pray for us!!!

[Anthony · Rating 2 out of 5]

There has GOT to be a better biography of my patron saint out there than this book. It's a late nineteenth century text filled with the sentimentality and hyperbole characteristic of the period, and it presents St. Anthony in a stereotypical way that drives me nuts. You'll know what I mean if you've ever seen a picture or a holy card of St. Anthony, showing a skinny guy who looks about fifteen with the face of a baby and a sickeningly-sweet expression in his large and limpid eyes. Maybe that kind of portrayal of a saint inspires some, but not me. I, shamefully, never took much interest in my patron saint, and I now realize that the reason for my disinterest is the effeminate way in which he has been portrayed. I refuse to believe he was actually like that!

The saints were real people, more real than we are, in a sense, because they were more perfect, and hence possessed more fullness of being. They were not sentimental. They weren't the way they are shown on holy cards, with their arms carefully folded and their eyes lifted demurely to heaven. They were dynamic forces, with strong personalities, even the introverts among them. They were more in tune with higher reality than we sinners are — they couldn't be sentimental. Sentimentality is self-indulgence. It is a lack of moderation. It is focusing on feelings more than on the reality that gives rise to those feelings. The saints possessed that reality. They didn't need to over-indulge in maudlin feelings.

For my last birthday my mom bought be a picture of St. Anthony that shows a version of the saint I had never seen before. It portrays a middle-aged man with a mature face, smiling at the Christ Child, whom he is not cuddling but holding naturally as the Child extends his hand in blessing. This saint Anthony does not have the doe-eyed countenance of other versions, but an adult face wearing an expression filled with personality and good humor. I can imagine this man deciding to give a sermon to fish because the heretics wouldn't listen to him. Suddenly, I have become very interested in my patron saint. I want to know everything I can about him.

Unfortunately, this book is not a good start. It keeps talking about St. Anthony as "singularly attractive to the eye" and possessing a voice "the beauty of which has often been commented upon" — I feel certain the author had a holy card in front of him as he wrote. Worse, he takes liberties with history. For instance, describing the young St. Anthony's attendance at the fourth Franciscan general chapter, the author declares:

"Unnoticed in this great throng, ravished by the spectacle of the Saint [Francis of Assisi] and his disciples, trembling with profound emotion, and faint for the fire of love that was consuming him, stood a youth of six and twenty, who was one day to become the most famous of the followers of St. Francis. Yet not one eye was turned upon him in kindness or in curiosity; not one word was spoken to him: he was utterly unnoticed and ignored."

"Not one word was spoken to him?" This was a massive gathering of Franciscans from all over Europe: I'm sure he passed the time of day with other unimportant friars. See what I mean by hyperbole? It seems to me that the author takes the fact that St. Anthony is not mentioned in the history of this general chapter, and instead of realizing that it is perfectly natural for an unknown twenty-six year old friar to fail to be singled out (future saint or no), he has to make an event out of it. Isn't it terrible that no one noticed this "ravished" and "trembling" and "faint" young man!

I may only have a bachelor's in history, but I'm rather sensitive to historical glibness. I wish I had a historical examination of St. Anthony in the vein of Regine Pernoud's books on Martin of Tours and Joan of Arc. There's got to be something out there better than this book. If anyone has a suggestion, please leave a comment.

[Aaron Crofut · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good little read on a wonderful saint.

[Galicius · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a biography of St. Anthony of Padua (1195-1231)
I previously read one other work of Stoddard, The Lepers of Molokai, which was rather spellbinding. . .
The author says in Chapter X that Anthony of Padua was the real author of “The Imitation of Christ” that is attributed to Thomas a Kempis. . .
St. Anthony inspired and is even sometimes considered by some such as St. Bonaventure, and Pope Gregory IX as the father of the school of theology known as “mystic”. (p. 56)

The author describes the encounter of St. Anthony with a violent feudal noble Ezzelino who was responsible for the deaths of dome 12,000 citizens in this Northeastern part of Italy. . .
He was acclaimed as a great preacher and theologian. . .
The author describes how it came about that St. Anthony is associated with Christ-Child. . .
St. Anthony is also known as a patron to rescue things lost or stolen. . .
The author visits Padua and describes it—it was before 1896 and it had a population of 50,000 . . .
St. Anthony traveled much but chose Padua as his permanent place of residence. . .
St. Anthony sought martyrdom earlier in his life when he traveled to Morocco to convert the Moors which meant a certain death. . .
The author concludes with an overall assessment of St. Anthony’s life, examples of his miracles, movement of his grave through several churches built in his honor.

[Ken · Rating 5 out of 5]

All I can say here is WOW! What an amazing person & lover of God. St. Anthony did some many things to bring many people into the church. He wa sspiritual beyond belief & had a tremendous grasp of scripture with a photographic memory. He also performed many, many miracles in the name of Christ most of which I had no idea about.
I must read more about him.

[J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book. Saint Anthony is my Patron Saint who I choose during my Confirmation. I am very happy to have him as my Patron Saint all the more after reading a biography on his life and works in Charity to God and Neighbor. I can only hope to live up his standard. So I say,

Saint Anthony, Pray for Me!

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

St. Anthony is a favorite of mine. He has helped me in many situations. God bless him.

[Alan A · Rating 5 out of 5]

You get what you paid for, and I think Charles Warren can fit more than a sufficient amount of detail about this saints life in such a little book. It’s not the most comprehensive biography, of course. But it’s a nice and small read that makes for a good and pious moment of leisure. It’s certainly a bonus if you can get this book on a sale!

Here, you will get to know why this Anthony was so important and how his very life impacted a plethora of people. As well as his inspiration, call, and example that led him to be the charitable and most esteemed character in a time such as the Middle Ages. He looked to others, such as his Franciscan and Augustinian companions for inspiration, just as he was observed by many more, and moved them into being as religious as he was.

[Tech Nossomy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A biography of Saint Anthony, who as I learned from this book, reached sainthood so early after his death, that his mother and two sisters who survived him saw festivities being organised in his honour by merit of their son/brother.
The subject matter of the book seems to deviate from all other works of this American author, who at that point had only written of travels through mostly the Americas. The author once himself claimed that all of his works contain autobiographical elements and perhaps this is what makes the deviation plausible.
Given the many claims of legend surrounding Saint Anthony, which are stated without additional evidence, the book is not particularly scholarly.

[Adele · Rating 5 out of 5]

This biography of St. Anthony was written in another age when saints were truly venerated. I read this as part of my Lenten spiritual reading and was truly edified by the life of St. Anthony. Even if you don't believe all the wonders written about him, he loved Jesus and dedicated his life to Him. He truly is a saint!

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good background on an interesting semi-historical figure.

Worded in understandable language but with context for the time. Im very impressed with this translation/chronicle. If youre looking for to read about St Anthony this is a great place to start.

[Mike Kaminski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best one

Probably the best book about the saint ever written. I highly recommend this work. I enjoyed it very much, well written.

[Nicole Liquori · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always invoked him for help finding lost things, but I never imagined the depth and beauty and holiness of him and his life. I am so glad I read this. My devotion to him has grown exponentially.

[Griffin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good breadth of information but the authors tendency towards romanticizing everything and purple prose at times made it less enjoyable than it could've been

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published in 1896, this is a fun, short read about St. Anthony of Padua. Now I want to read some of his writings.

[Rita Mantone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love This Saint

St. Anthony loves us and wants to help us in our needs. Get close to him, share your life with him. Read this book and glorify God in his wonder worker St. Anthony.

[Laura L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned so much from this small book (108 pages) about the miracles that God performed through St. Anthony. I enjoyed how it was divided into very short chapters.

[Nick Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another case where I just feel like I need a better depiction of his life because I know how great a Saint he is, but the book just wasn’t all the way what I wanted.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fairly good book on St Anthony. Book begins written like a poem with an over abundance of words and descriptors to tell simple facts. The extraneous words are reduced about 1/3 of the way in and that is where the book really picks up steam with good information on this saint. The prose picks up again towards the end. The writing style was not for me, but the underlying information was mostly worthwhile.

[Joann Glasser · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is more of a condensed version of the life of St. Anthony. Which was a little disappointing

[John Pokorny · Rating 4 out of 5]

St Anthony

Because this is a translated work, the translation is not an easy read. But, it is enjoyable still.
My patron saint.

[Theresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! Short and easy to read.

[Iselin · Rating 2 out of 5]

https://mittbokligaliv.com/2017/02/09...

[☄ · Rating 4 out of 5]

st. anthony !!!!! 💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓

[Bobbi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

This is a wonderfully written book! I am so happy I read it and now have a new Saint to pray too. All I can say is he was truly blessed and continues to bless ♥️